chocolate covered day!

   This Valentine's day I decided that I would try winning my man the way the old saying said to "the way to a man's heart is through his stomach."  My plan was to make a box of chocolate dipped strawberries and his favorite Apple Pie Caramel Apple. Because whenever I walk by the chocolate factory in the mall I always want an apple and they charge so much! I decided to try to make them for myself and also to try to make them by the slice so you get more caramel & chocolate per bite!

    I figured since I only had 2 hours, I should try the apples first. I chopped them, sprinkled lemon on them and then dipped them into chocolate that I melted on the stove.  Didn't work. I had laid out parchment paper and that was a mistake too.  Here's what I learned - use wax paper!  It doesn't stick!!! Also, don't make your caramel too hot, otherwise, it will slide right off!

  Next, I dipped the apples into white chocolate. This worked well except that it warmed up the caramel so it didn't look clean.  My tip, refrigerate before dipping into the chocolate! Lastly, I rolled the apple in the sugar and cinnamon mix. Now that worked out quite well! lol!  

  So, while my apples looked lumpy and nothing close to elegant (which is why there is no picture!), they did in-fact taste good! 

  Onto the strawberries. Now these actually worked out very nicely. I dipped them, decorated them and put them into small cupcake holders. My tip here, Don't put them into the cupcake holders directly. Place them on wax paper to dry in the refrigerator and then transfer them to the cupcake holders.  why? Because if you place them directly into the cupcake holders, the chocolate attaches to the holder instead of staying on the strawberry and it just doesn't look as nicely put together. 

  From my kitchen to yours, go and create like crazy!